Tag: Cain Velasquez

The new guard’s success in the Octagon might not translate to success in the box office, much to the detriment of the UFC’s future.

There’s no doubt that in terms of skill, the new generation of fighters is superior. Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva twice without ever being in danger. Jon Jones is ten times the fighter any previous light heavyweight champ ever was. The recently arrived era of fighters are to the previous era what the previous era was to old time greats like Mark Coleman. There’s a skill disparity; MMA has evolved.

However, just because the new breed has more aptitude, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have more drawing power. The old guard, through their battles on the early TUF seasons, Spike TV and various PPVs, brought the UFC from fringe-level oddity status (think FX Toughman or Slamball) to global sports powerhouse—complete with a network TV deal and a burgeoning international audience. The UFC’s current crew simply can’t carry the company into growth like this in 2014 and onward.

It’s no secret that the UFC’s numbers haven’t been stellar lately. Despite having more exposure than ever before, 2013′s ceiling is looking a bit like 2008/9′s floor.

Will the new faces be able to reverse the UFC’s decline in popularity? If not, will they at least be able to help the UFC tread water until the storm is weathered?

The lighter, male, weight classes won’t, for starters. It’s widely-known that they don’t draw well. MMA’s casual fan—the guy who does bench presses in the squat rack and needs skulls on everything he owns—hears 125-pounds and immediately (wrongly) thinks “Fuck watching a fighter I can throw through the wall.”

It’s too early to tell whether the new generation of greats from lightweight, welterweight, or middleweight, or even the females will produce a “future of the company”/”franchise athlete”/choose your buzzword.

The CagePotato tumblr has surpassed over 650 followers! We figured it has been a while since we shared some of our Tumblr highlights with the vast majority of the Potato Nation, so that’s why we’re making this post. We’ve got some interesting stuff to share with you guys—and it’s all SFW (though there are no Al Bundy GIFs, sorry):

-This is an oldie but a goody: Someone once made an MMA-tabloid complete with ridiculous stories like Ariel Helwani having a lovechild with Arianny Celeste. Funny stuff.

In the 20-year history of the UFC, no fighter has ever held two title belts simultaneously, or kicked off a championship reign in a second weight class immediately after leaving his original division. If any fighter could accomplish such a feat at this point, it’s Jon Jones, who has already enjoyed a tremendous run at 205 pounds, and has the height and reach to make a move to heavyweight seem credible.

Jones has been considering a hypothetical move to heavyweight since early 2012, but the switch is looking more and more likely as 2014 approaches. While speaking at Gentlemen’s Expo in Toronto over the weekend, Jones voiced his desire for a super-fight against heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez within the next year, followed by a permanent departure from the light-heavyweight division. Here’s what he had to say, via MMAWeekly:

“I think that’s going to happen within the next two years. I’ll go up to heavyweight, permanently,” Jones said. “I’ve been really thinking about me and Cain Velasquez going at it. Don’t be surprised if you see that sooner or later.”

Jones added that he thinks a fight between him and Velasquez will be huge for the sport, and he anticipates taking a “super fight” within the next year.

Velasquez typically tips the scale at roughly 240 pounds, routinely fighting opponents that outweigh him by up to as many as 25 pounds. Jones said he walks around at about 230 pounds, but would pack on some extra muscle to fight Velasquez at a similar weight.

“I would gain about 10 pounds of muscle and compete with him at about 240 [pounds],” Jones said…

Speaking with Heidi Androl on Saturday night, White gave a quick update on Velasquez’s current health status: ”He doesn’t need surgery, he’s just gonna go through a rehab. But it’s gonna be a while.”

This isn’t the first time that a shoulder injury has forced Cain Velasquez out of action. Velasquez sat out most of 2011 due to a rotator cuff injury on his right shoulder, which he sustained during his UFC 121 fight against Brock Lesnar and reportedly re-injured a week before his first fight against Dos Santos.

We’ll update you if we hear more about the specific nature of Cain’s latest shoulder injury. In the meantime, Werdum has already been inactive since June — should he wait for Velasquez to return, or take another fight to stay busy?

Update, 5:05 p.m. ET: UFC President Dana White has refuted this report, telling Yahoo! that Cain won’t be competing on the Mexico show because he might have injured his left shoulder during his last fight against Junior Dos Santos. Velasquez has already undergone one MRI, and will have another to determine the extent of his injury and whether or not he’ll need surgery. Stay tuned…

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Although the matchup has yet to be officially confirmed by the UFC, multiple sources are reporting that the rumored bout between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum has been tentatively scheduled for the UFC’s inaugural trip to Mexico in 2014. The event: UFC 172. The date: April-ish. BloodyElbow passes along the roughly-translated news:

It’s a matter of days for the UFC officially announced the first event in Mexico. The Arena Mexico City will host the Billboard 172 company, a pay per view for America that will be headlined by Cain Velasquez and challenger for the heavyweight belt, the Brazilian Fabricio Werdum.

The date, the weekend of the 19th or April 26th 2014 is perfect for the Mexican American, because even though the medical suspension was discarded six months after his last defense, if you have half a year to make full preparation. On Tuesday afternoon, the president of the promoter Dana White confirmed that the announcement will take place on Mexican soil as they become ready. That moment could come in the coming weeks as the company’s promotional activity intensifies.

(Take another look at the moment in round 3 when Herb Dean “almost stopped the fight.” It turns out he was just trying to yank Cain’s right hand off the fence. Good work, Herb. The fans paid for a five-round beating, and they deserve to get their money’s worth. / Props: Reddit_MMA)

- UFC 166 medical suspensions are out, and JDS is suspended indefinitely pending clearance from an ear, nose and throat doctor. (Shawn Jordan and Tim Boetsch were also given indefinite suspensions due to the damage they took in their fights.) Velasquez is medically suspended through April 18th due to a possibly broken jaw, though he could return earlier pending clearance from a doctor. UPDATE:Cain’s team says his jaw is totally fine, and they have no idea why “possibly broken jaw” was listed on his medical suspension. It’s a mystery. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has yet to issue a comment. UPDATE #2:According to a representative for the TDLR, ”After review of the UFC 166 information it has been determined the Velasquez/dos Santos suspensions were posted incorrectly.” Velasquez’s jaw is not broken, and his actual medical suspension is just 15 days.

Now that we’ve all come down from the meth-like high that UFC 166 provided, let’s get down to some business, shall we? Fans and pundits of the sport alike have previously hailed our armchair matchmakers as “The most sagacious, in-depth and intellectually gratifying reading experiences in all of mixed martial arts reporting,” so let’s hope we can work our magic for Saturday’s biggest winners. Besides, AMC FearFest starts soon and we will be checking out for the rest of this month once that gets underway.

Daniel Cormier: To hell with who Cormier should be matched up with next, I want to be matched up with Cormier’s kickboxing coach and learn the art of the turning side check kick, STAT. In all seriousness, we’d like to see the former Olympian matched up with fellow grappling stud Phil Davis next. Davis is fresh off a split decision over Lyoto Machida at UFC 163, and if Cormier is as insistent on cutting to LHW as he seems, Davis would make for a perfect litmus test.

To put it bluntly, UFC 166 was the kind of faith-restoring UFC event that effectively silenced even the most cynical of the sport’s detractors (henceforth known as “garbage-assers“). Featuring a trio of wars and a pair of brutal first round finishes on the main card alone, UFC 166 staked its claim as an early frontrunner for “Event of the Year” at this year’s Potato Awards and will likely achieve the same notoriety at awards ceremonies that actually transpire.

Thankfully, FOX Sports has compiled some highlight videos of the evening’s greatest slugfests and made them available for viewing on their Youtube page. Although these snippets won’t fill the bottomless void created in the soul of, say, your friend Dave who insisted on skipping UFC 166 to attend a Lady Gaga concert with his bitch of a girlfriend, they will give you the chance to confirm that Dave is a tiny, tin-eared man who lacks intestinal fortitude and any semblance of deductive reasoning. Fucking Dave.

We’ve placed the highlight video for Velasquez/Dos Santos III above, but join us after the jump to relive the rest of what was truly a historic night for both the UFC and MMA in general.

UFC president Dana White spoke with assembled press after UFC 166 Saturday night in Houston. Per usual, all topics were on the table including judging, reffing, who is and isn’t on the chopping block and the future of the heavyweight and light heavyweight division title scene.